THE NEW YORKER .':: -::::::: , ë W=T t""""J ,:J , '.. .? x .u"' ' /) . { ..r!.: .,. Ü .:=" . ä.., ,;; "') 0". ?:..' ::: .- ..-. . .-: .; .. ..... ";; i3" " ,";.s :. ( .47 . 'U:":..: , .;,..,: . '" . z: .. 'è: 'm . {\' . :/g' u/ ..-f" .1f'f";1' . t ..; . ..... ";:' ;' :'. ';'" " '{ 1\ H ..ts l:.I;.; t u'.'. { .. 0(. , .u.. .. W , . "u": :< :: \. l' ''1$ 1(>-, ...... .' :': :': . . ."" i ". .:::r ' . i{!}:'" . "it:::rf': " ><i>':! , J" .: , J?,; ";z! y/-"yt,.. u;' ;:?t;;: 23 ;11;;j rt. ist. This costs him fi ve dol- lars for each visit, but] ohnson thinks it is worth the price, and his manager agrees with him heartily. His ruddiness is the product of a sunshine machine. He has studied all his gestures carefully and never makes one now that he has not thought out beforehand. It was his manager who called Johnson's atten tion to his habit of tug- ging at his nose with his fin- gers. "It's just a little thing, Johnson," the manager said, "but it distracts the attention of the listener, and I thought I ought to speak to you about it." Johnson determined then and there to control that habit, and he has. Although Johnson cleared only twenty-five hundred dol- lars that first year, his income increased steadily for the next three years until 1928, when he cleared ten thousand dollars -his best mark to date. He did not suffer as much as salar- ied workers during the depths of the depression. While the insurance companies themselves had no little difficulty in finding places to invest their funds, Johnson was able to convince many people that insurance was a safe form of investment in such uncertain times. And to add to his earnings during the depression years, there was of course the five per cent he was receiving on all payments still being made on the pol- icies he had sold in previous years. His income is increasing again now and this year he hopes to get back to the ten-thousand-dollar class. Toward the end of the first year, Johnson found that he had almost ex- hausted the immediate possibilities of his circle of friends, and it was then that he entered the most critical period of his career. Many young salesmen fail after that first effort. They sell policies to their friends and relatives but find themselves unable to sell to strangers. They come and go in the life - insurance business, bringing the companies customers who might other- wise have escaped, and then drift on to other fields of endeavor . Johnson recognized the necessity for widening his range of prospects and he began to devote much of his time to what he calls "cold canvassing." The telephone made this much easier for him than it 7. :'> >} f ," - :' " '. . :'" , - ,. -T l' .:.:.: ..:. ." .1:\\.:,- i '.::":;",:' ".) . ' . ' . :" .. ß. tl/ . . */ .lP ,;'Ø:16' 1 r .}. ..k . ..' "rI : (;\1 !:?'0;;,:,:^ ' $' ,;,'W '., .k?.! ! 'l'::'::=: l, 0; . tæ '.: ':.'. .. J:> 5::':':;;1: : ,..:.. > . ' y . " , '. . : . :' . '::; . . : ,. ' , i : , . , : : ' . . : . ., . . ' . . . : , ' . . ' . ; ifr' "j)j' ., , ,y ,< ;:. ' .:çì' ,..,.... /.&ß y ..{f<; ' (( A t it agatn, eh, Simmons? , :. Report at once to headquarters." ./"':.. t :"':, ....;. . fL .,' r':_.. 4 : l::Ã Ñ>""'O :P: I .",.c. .,.1'h ..:.-.::: .::. L ' ! 't, i!J: : : .,: son worked out a special little diagram of his own, modelled on the more con- ventional ones in general use, and he has used it with amazing success. It looks like this: The dotted line indicates the course of Johnson's final pen stroke. It will be seen that this line connects the de- pendents with the ten-thousand-dollïr policy and at the same time brings a certain symmetry to the general pattern. Almost always, after he has . . first lulled the prospect's senses with statistics and with smooth doses of prac- ticed rhetoric, Johnson finds that the effect of this final pen stroke is hypnotic. As you may know, a hen can be made to stand for hours staring at a line drawn on the ground. Johnson's pros- pects, after the diagram has been com- pleted with this final flourish, often ac- cept the fountain pen without a word and sign their name as Johnson directs them to. Before the first year was over, ] ohn- son had begun to al ter his personality and his appearance in accordance with the accepted notions of the craft. He made himself look excessively neat, be- cause neatness in the salesman is sup- posed to suggest an orderly brain and this, in turn, is supposed to inspire con- fidence in the prospect. He began us- ing a patented hair ointment which overcomes unruly hair and makes it shiny without making it oily. He began having his teeth expert! y scrubbed and polIshed every three months by a dent- :..:'.. .- \ç .. .